WHAT'S GOING ON WITH EMILY BRILL? We can scarcely contain our curiosity; "Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray" to Emily. The idle, wealthy daughter of a media mogul—supporting herself with only a trust fund and a blog—has transformed into New York's ultimate narrator. Only she seems able to capture in prose the throbbing, relentless pulse that underlies this great city. We have so many questions: What did she have for dinner? How long did she wait to get in that bar? And what year was that terrorist attack, again? Come on New Yorkers, let's rock: Emily's literary style is informed by a lifetime of urban experience:

The Clinton Years were glory days and we loved Rudy. Booming economy (or starting to), and it was Court TV…I think we also had a million snow days that year. Oklahoma City scared the hell out of us and the WTC was attacked that year too i think (or maybe it was in 5th grade–regardless, that was really really creepy), but things were still good. Hey, even my grades at Dalton were finally getting good!

Her ability to transcend hardship resonates with her fellow strivers in the Rotten Apple:

I guess a girl in New York can't win. One minute I'm getting accused of having an eating disorder for being honest about my reluctance to eat a burger in the Hamptons and the next thing I know, I find out that guys see me as pigging out because I go nuts on foods like lobster salad. Can you relate? It's the reality of New York life.

Still, she's unafraid to give the unvarnished truth about her impressions of a new bar, damn the consequences:

I sat with a girl I hadn't seen since 9th grade–now a lawyer–and we compared Park Avenue colorists, and she was with my other lawyer friends. It's a carefully crafted, intimate mix of people and if you get New York, you understand that this is a really good place to hang out and it's only going to get better. But it would be ridiculous for me to sit here and write fluff. You're not going to get that on this blog.